John Gruber on the shut down of Vesper:
It’s also entirely possible that a notes app was never going to work, financially. That it was a bad idea from the get-go, and no matter how nicely designed the app was, no matter how lovingly well-crafted, no matter what price point we had picked (higher or lower), it wasn’t going to work financially.
That quoted bit should be framed and looked at daily by anyone making apps. Whether it was the consulting I did on Begin and Horizon, or the work I do daily with apps at MartianCraft — that rings true in all cases.
If you have the money or time, or ideally both, you can make an amazing app relatively easily. The problem isn’t lack of ideas, or lack of talent, the problem is: no matter what, you cannot guarantee you will make your money/time back.
I’m not arguing sustainable pricing is the issue, or that you can’t make money with apps. I’m saying two things:
- You can never be assured of money.
- You can never be assured of money.
Oh, that’s one thing, my bad.